Sunday, July 31, 2011

OSRCon is less than two weeks away now and I'll be running two sessions of Dwimmermount. I've been spending my copious spare time (ha!) getting things ready for the con, like having a goodly supply of pre-generated characters and hirelings. I'm also trying to decide whether or not I should try and lug my dungeon tiles and minis down to the con; I can see pros and cons to both sides of this question.

One of the other things I'm pondering is the use of a referee's screen. In general, I don't use them nowadays, but I can definitely see its having some utility at the convention. The problem is that I don't currently have a OD&D/Labyrinth Lord screen that I like and don't know where I'd obtain one. Yes, there is the Advanced Labyrinth Lord Screen, which is awesome. However, I'm not using the Advanced Edition Companion, so it's not quite what I'm looking for, though, it'd serve in a pinch. Of course, I've also never turned some PDF pages into a screen capable of standing up, so there are still issues to resolve regardless.

With that in mind, if anyone has any advice on this score, I'd appreciate hearing it, especially when it comes to creating a screen for myself, since that's likely what I'll have to do in order to get panels that include all the information I find most useful in play (such as some charts from the Ready Ref Sheets).

Maybe I should have also referenced the instructions to the mini-screen I made with that PDF on the old Goblinoid Games forums. Pretty simple stuff really, though nowadays I just use Shorten's Ref Sheets.

I second sabode's recommendation of the Savage Worlds screen. I've printed out inspirational art for the players side and whatever information I need for a game for my side. I especially like the fact that it is oriented in a landscape fashion so that, even while using a screen, you can easily interact with your players.

At walmart, they usually have some cardboard that's been pre-folded twice, intended to be used as a backdrop for kid's science projects and the like. I use one of those either as is or cut in half with my tables and such pasted to it. I also keep some big paperclips handy for attaching things like dungeon maps to the screen.

I'm another huge fan of the Savages Worlds' screen. I have used MS Publisher to create custom screens for every game I play. I basically cut charts directly out of the book's pdf and paste them in Publisher where I can edit and organize. While I don't have a LL screen, I do have a couple for B/X. Let me know if you would like a copy.

There's just something about a home-made screen which shouts Old School. I seem to remember that back in the day there were a few GMs who home-made their own screens using heavy three-ring binders, with charts and tables taped to them. The heavy binders, when opened, stood on their own very nicely.

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